The Daily Procrastinator

The grass has turned from brown to green, there’s baseball on TV, and high school seniors really don’t care any more. It’s spring! We here at The Daily Procrastinator have been reveling in the joy of the season, and we celebrated by posting another crop of interesting, amusing, and/or distracting articles this week. Read on to make sure you didn’t miss a thing.

The week began with some meditations on working. First, TallGirl confessed that she’s a workaholic. How does one get to that terrifying state, you may ask. According to our Procrastinator, it’s a slippery slope. Beware! In another work-related incident, TallGirl discovered that she had more old tax forms than she felt like shredding, so she set them on fire. The resulting photograph is fantastic.

In keeping with our recently established tradition of posting an amusing animal picture with each Weekly Wrap-Up, here's a frog who's plotting world domination.

The arrival of baseball season tugged at both BigRedPoet’s and FlashCap’s heartstrings this week. First, BRP posted a reminiscence of his history with America’s pastime, ranging from his childhood fascination with the game to opening day of the 2009 campaign. Later, FlashCap paid homage to both baseball and T.S. Eliot with his tribute The Base(ball) Land.

In the world of entertainment, The Daily Procrastinator cast its net pretty wide this week. For starters, BigRedPoet posted his review of a board game called Last Night On Earth: The Zombie Game. After trying the game just a few times, he’s hooked! TallGirl threw her hat into the entertainment ring with a pop-quiz (or is it snarky social commentary?) about reality television.

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The Daily Procrastinator: Contributing to the Dramatic Reduction of Your Personal Productivity

Hi, I’m TallGirl, and I’m a workaholic.

(You’re supposed to say, “Hi, TallGirl!” in unison. Thank you.)

I wasn’t always this way. There was a time when I was out the door at 5:00, thank you very much. I can remember it, and yet I have a hard time believing it.

Yet it makes sense. I didn’t have a work-issued laptop to take home with me. I didn’t have Wi-Fi in my house. I didn’t have an iPhone that automatically delivered my email to the left pocket of my jeans. I didn’t work for myself, or write for a blog, or volunteer my time to write the annual report for a nonprofit, or… well, you get the idea.

Still working after 10 PM? Oh, happiness!

It was this past week when I realized that I needed a support group — not that I had the time to go out and meet with them. I didn’t have a single day where I wasn’t scheduled to the hilt during business hours, with conference calls being conducted in the car on the way to on-site client meetings. As a result, there was no time to actually get work done, and I worked until at least 11 PM each night of the week and, barring two pre-scheduled commitments, the entire weekend. When did this happen to me? When did I decide that life was not complete without my MacBook in tow?

I probably should have realized that the balance of power was shifting in favor of workaholic when I moved four years ago. I had already set up my DirecTV and TiVo, but due to some sort of major snafu with the local provider, my DSL order was delayed and then cancelled without my knowledge or consent. I lost my mind. No amount of Food Network or Discovery Channel was going to console me. I needed my Internet and needed it immediately. By the time I finally got some connectivity, I realized that I had no time for my TV. Dozens of hours of shows backed up, unwatched, before I finally cancelled my service.

At first, it was liberating. I’d been feeling a little bit oppressed by my “to-watch” list, and it was great to not have the pressure. Even now, I don’t really miss it. Anything I want to watch can be found online. Just another reason for me to be attached to my MacBook.

And so, as I wonder what happened to my weekend, I have nothing but myself to blame. Combine ubiquitous connectivity with an inability to say no, and you find yourself where I am, searching for an online support group for people who can’t let go of their work.

Now, do we have coffee and donuts at this meeting?